chok swarm

This report I present not in my words, but those of Haftera Djuur, the Vastlander who knows the language of the chok and has experienced their method of travel underwater.

Scribe Elan Straibala

We have known of the chok for some four or five centuries. They regularly visit the communities at the ocean's edge. Still, few natives of Chawso have any firsthand knowledge of them, because they have never continued up the river. I am uncertain whether it is the depth or the composition that makes it unsuitable, but the chok have made clear they dislike Ciiadociee.

The chok were first observed, I have learned, in their swarm appearance. They were repeatedly sighted moving along, emerging from or just under the water surface. Often a large number of people would gather to see one go by. Later on, a chok swarm would roll up to the shore with the rising tide and rest there until the tide turned. And as the people became accustomed to that sight, the swarm would then disassemble into individuals. This slow process was how the chok made their introduction.

Haftera's drawing of a chok swarm by The Big G

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Inside the Swarm

So much I learned from our Journey Festival guests. When I left Chawso to travel to your islands, I didn't think to learn any more. But now I have not only witnessed a chok swarm, I have been inside one. The unexpected opportunity came to me at the invitation of the chok I communicate with. This was, of course, quite a risk to take. My understanding of Choktap was much less certain at that time, and I had only the vaguest assurance that I would be returned to my starting position. Still, I had no thought of passing the opportunity by. I indicated to the chok that I was willing, and recorded the signal it gave to the other chok to assemble into a swarm. The paired chok rolled into the ocean and opened as if hinged, displaying their insides as they linked to other chok.

Haftera's drawing of chok anatomy by The Big G

I must confess that the internal workings of a chok are a grotesque sight. Its organs are contained in eight ropes of flesh radiating from its center, each with a series of circular depressions proceeding along its length and two rows of extended fingers to either side of the circles. The two thickest and longest ropes coil about the center of the chok. In the swarm, each chok entwines its six outer ropes with its neighbors' to form secure joinings, reinforcing the seams made by the connecting edges of their armor.

The aroma emanating from the swarm was strong, as of stale ocean water and digested air. I found it extremely unpleasant in the first, but soon I became inured to it and it ceased to bother me. I stepped inside very carefully, wishing to avoid damaging any chok's soft parts. At first the swarm was joined in a broad sheet roughly the shape of an open hand, but once I was in position the chok adjusted their shapes to curl the sheet and bring its fingers together, forming a hollow sphere.
As the swarm closed around me, its interior grew entirely dark, as I expected. However, I soon discerned many spots of pale light, some steady, others appearing and disappearing. After several minutes I became enough accustomed to the dark to observe that the lights appeared on the central coiled organs of each chok. A few patterns became apparent, and it's my belief that chok within a swarm communicate with distant members of the same swarm by means of regulating these lights. You can trust that I am eager to discover the keys to the language they represent!
My journey inside a swarm was a short one. Although I could not see what was happening outside, I guessed the swarm's travel from its motions. A repeated rocking I took to be the swarm leaving the shore, and marked its submergence by the sensation of water pressing on all sides of the swarm. While under the water I felt motions consistent with turning in a wide circle, and then with more rocking I was returned to shore. The swarm opened in the reverse manner of its closing, splitting seams and flattening into a sheet again. As valuable as the experience was, it was a delight to me to step onto solid land. Travel by chok swarm is an even less pleasant way to cross ocean, and ever since then I have been more appreciative of the firm construction of boats.

A note on the difficulty of identifying chok:

I have never been able to distinguish one chok from another. It is always a single chok that approaches me, and I take assumption that it is the same one. Everyone who has spoken to me about the chok admits to the same difficulty.
Chok, however, appear to have no difficulty in recognizing individual people. Though the trading chok prefer to receive items that are novel to them, they understand when someone values a particular item, and on later visits will unerringly offer more of its kind to that very person.

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Would you like to know more about the chok? So would we! Here's what we have learned so far:

Haftera himself is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met.

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So many thanks to nnie for running this challenge, and to Qurilion for judging!